Contents

Gameplay

Overview

The game is built around the idea of creating large structures using balls of goo.[8] The game is divided into five chapters, each containing several levels. Each level has its own graphic and musical theme, giving it unique atmosphere,[6] similar in style to Tim Burton's film designs.[9] There is also a bonus meta-game called World of Goo Corporation, where the objective is to build the highest tower using goo balls which the player collected through the course of the game. Players from all over the world can compete, as the height of the tower and number of goo balls used are being constantly uploaded to the 2D Boy server.

Objective

The main objective of the game is to get a requisite number of goo balls to a pipe representing the exit. In order to do so, the player must use the goo balls to construct bridges, towers, and other structures to overcome gravity and various terrain difficulties such as chasms, hills, spikes, or cliffs. There are several types of goo balls in the game, each of which has unique properties. The player must exploit combinations of these goo balls in order to complete each level. Extra goos recovered in the pipe are pumped through to the World of Goo Corporation, a sandbox area where the objective is to compete with other players worldwide by building the tallest tower possible.[10] Players can also try to achieve the "Obsessive Completion Distinction Flag" for each level by completing the level under more stringent criteria,[11] such as collecting a larger number of Goo balls, finishing under a set amount of time or using as few moves as possible.

Levels and chapters in the game are interspersed with cut scenes.

The WiiWare version includes multiplayer with up to four people on the same Wii. This facility is also available, albeit unsupported, in the Linux port.[12]

Levels

World of Goo is split up into five chapters, each containing a number of levels. The chapters are set over the course of one year in the World of Goo. Each chapter takes place over one season, beginning in the start of summer, and ending at the end of spring the next year.

An additional chapter selectable from the main menu is the World of Goo Corporation. Goos collected above and beyond the required amount to pass a level are piped out of each of the played levels to here. Starting from just a single triangle of Goo, the aim is to build the highest possible tower. The Goos in the World of Goo Corporation are unique in that they can be repositioned like Green Goo but are black and can only form two connections at once like Black Goo.

In the World of Goo Corporation, towers built by other players of the game are represented by clouds bearing the player's name, nationality and height of the tower, including details on the total number of balls collected by the player and how many were used in constructing their tower. The altitude of each cloud represents the height of that player's tower. An online leaderboard charts the heights of the top 50 towers, as well as the top 10 players for each level of the game.

There are a total of 48 levels in the game, including World of Goo Corporation.

In an interview the developers stated that the retail version released in Europe would receive an additional sixth chapter, set on the Moon.[13] Few details were disclosed, but reportedly this chapter would have featured a freeform sandbox mode, similar to that of the World of Goo Corporation. This addition was, however, canceled for Wii when 2D Boy announced they were releasing the game on WiiWare in Europe.[14]

Plot

The story is told primarily through the aforementioned cut scenes and signs encountered throughout the game, which were left by a mysterious figure known as the Sign Painter.

In the first chapter, pipes appear throughout the land, waking up many sleeping Goo Balls who have gone undisturbed until this, as they are filled with a childlike sense of curiosity and naivety they build themselves towards the pipes. Upon reaching the pipe entrance, the Goo Balls are sucked by the pipe system into the World of Goo Corporation main building where they are processed into many products, most prominently a drink. The excess Goo Balls are left outside the Corporation headquarters where they begin to build a giant tower. At the end of the first chapter, a few Green Goo escape from the Corporation building by attaching themselves to eyeballs which have the ability to float. The chapter ends with the Goo Balls "seeing far away new lands".

In the second chapter, more pipes appear in a very windy desert where a giant power plant is located. However, during the past, the location and appearance of the plant was forgotten because it stopped producing energy. A new Goo Ball is introduced, which is ground up by the Corporation into a beauty cream. Near the end of the chapter the power plant, which looks like a giant woman, is discovered. It turns out that the power plant "ran on beauty" which is (according to the game) a highly reactive chemical like gasoline or turpentine. After some of the Beauty Goo are injected into it, it becomes operational again, allowing the Corporation to open up a new factory in the south.

During the third chapter it is said that the Corporation develops a mysterious "Product Z". It eventually turns out that the mysterious Product Z is actually the third dimension (Product Z is the z-axis in mathematics). This causes much commotion amongst the general population who cannot see where anything is now. World of Goo Corporation tells them to contact tech support in the Information Superhighway after being rendered "incompatible with the world".

In the fourth chapter the Goo Balls are set out to find the mysterious "MOM" program amongst a vector style environment. Shortly after the beginning the Goo Balls find the object responsible for rendering the graphics. After pumping many of their own kind into the object the graphics render improves, creating a more realistic environment in the level Road Blocks (and the introduction of Block Goo. Near the end they encounter the MOM program who/which turns out to be a spam bot. The Goo Balls decide to overload Product Z by sending every message in the history of spam to everyone at the World of Goo Corporation. After venturing to the recycle bin and un-deleting everything, the Corporation headquarters explodes, shutting down Product Z while creating a massive layer of smog that envelops the entire world.

In the Epilogue, the remaining "scientifically pure" Goo Balls are sucked away to the ruins of the Corporation's Headquarters. The final level of the game reveals that the Goo Balls are now completely extinct, all the remaining having been sucked away to the remains of the World of Goo Corporation and added to the tower, and the massive telescope at the site has been rendered useless as it cannot see past the layer of smog. The Sign Painter reveals in his final sign that he has now become the Telescope Operator. Some fish in the water connect to the telescope and pull it out of the ground, where it passes the layer of smog and sees the tower of Goo that has been built at the former World of Goo Corporation Headquarters, which can also see past the smog. The telescope falls back to the ground before it can see what the Goo Balls were building towards. However, the camera pans up into space to reveal that the Goo Balls that escaped at the end of chapter one have managed to reach a far-off planet populated entirely by Goo Balls.

An additional chapter was initially planned for the European retail version of the game, located on the Moon; however such plans have been abandoned because 2D Boy did not increase the price of the game for some, to make available the new chapter at the same time for all.[15] It may be released later.

Development

World of Goo was imagined by two ex-Electronic Arts developers, Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel. Their game studio, 2D Boy, was essentially based out of whatever Wi-Fi enabled coffee shop they could find. The developers estimate spending about $10,000 of their personal savings to develop World of Goo which includes rent, food, and minimal equipment. The two developers attribute the game's success to their blog and early web presence, as well as the awards it won at the Independent Games Festival at the Game Developers Conference in 2007, causing publishers who did not respond to their requests now wanting to publish the title.[16]

On March 3, 2009, 2D Boy announced that users who pre-ordered World of Goo would get a "Profanity Pack" at some point after release, which would "[replace] the normal voices in the game with naughty words." [17] But as of August 2010, the profanity pack has yet to surface.

The developers depended upon the community to translate the game into Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish for the EU release in December 2008.[19] It is also available in Polish in Poland. In a post on 2D Boy's blog, the game's developer estimated that due to piracy, only one out of every ten copies of the PC version of World of Goo had been legitimately purchased. [20]

World of Goo was released for the Wii's WiiWare service in North America on 13 October 2008.[21] On 11 November 2008, 2D Boy announced that World of Goo would be released as WiiWare in Europe in lieu of a retail release.[22] During the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit, Nintendo announced that it would publish World of Goo in Japan during the second quarter of 2009;[23] the game was released on 21 April 2009 under the title Planet of Goo (グーの惑星,Gū no Wakusei?).[24] On 24 March 2009, it was announced that World of Goo would be part of the MacHeist III bundle. On 13 October 2009, the first anniversary of the game's release, 2D Boy announced a one-week offer (which was later extended until 25 October 2009) on their blog where people could pay whatever amount they liked to buy the game. They also posted the results of this sale on their blog where 22% of buyers paid only to support the Pay-What-You-Want model.[25] A demo version of the WiiWare version was released on November 20, 2009. After celebrating World of Goo's first birthday, they announced on their blog that an iOS version was in the works.

Audio

The World of Goo soundtrack was created by Kyle Gabler, who also designed, wrote and illustrated the game. It was released as a free download on 20 January 2009.[26]

The song "World of Goo Beginning" was created with the intention of resembling Libertango by Astor Piazzolla.[26] "Regurgitation Pumping Station" was originally written for a friend's short film about going on a date with the devil.[26] "Threadcutter" was originally written for a game called Blow which Gabler made available on his site.[26] "Rain Rain Windy Windy" was originally written for the soundtrack for a short children's film, commenting that writing children's music is difficult.[26] "Jelly" was originally written for a short film about a virtual reality world.[26] "Burning Man" was written for a friend's drama/mystery series. He made it by recording two friends singing single notes, and then using a keyboard to make it sound like a choir.[26] "Cog in the Machine" was originally written for another game of his called Robot and the Cities who Built Him.[26]

Track listing

"World of Goo Beginning" − 1:09

This is the main theme of World of Goo, and the first chunk of music that was written for the game, specifically for the first trailer. The developer wanted the theme of the game to somehow reflect the song "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla, which was the track they used in the original Tower of Goo prototype.

"The Goo Filled Hills" − 0:25

"Brave Adventurers" − 1:07

This was intended to be a livelier version of "Ode to the Bridge Builder".

"Another Mysterious Pipe Appeared" − 1:18

"World of Goo Corporation" − 0:17

"Regurgitation Pumping Station" − 3:40

This was from a soundtrack that was written for a short film about going on a date with the devil.

"Threadcutter" − 0:55

This was from one of the developer's small games, Blow.

"Rain Rain Windy Windy" − 2:45

This is from a soundtrack that was written for a short kid's movie.

"Jelly" − 2:38

Music that was written for a virtual reality world.

"Tumbler" − 1:52

"Screamer" − 1:36

This was almost un-included, but a friend convinced the developer a few days before they finished.

"Burning Man" − 1:49

The theme that was written for a drama/mystery series. It was recorded with two friends singing single notes, and then played back on a keyboard to get a "choir". This became the theme for "progress" in the game. A variation is used for "MOM's theme".

"Cog in the Machine" − 4:03

There is a clip in this track from one of the developer's other small games Robot and the Cities Who Built Him.

"Happy New Year (tm) Brought to You by Product Z" − 0:54

This was recorded with some singers from Carnegie Mellon. This is the first time the "what's up there anyway" theme can be heard. You can hear the same theme in the tracks "Years of Work" and "The Last of the Goo Balls".

"Welcome to the Information Superhighway" − 1:56

This was written by the developer when he was in high school. Only the second half of this clip is used in the game.

This was the second track written for the game. The goal was to make a variation on "Amazing Grace", in the style of those old western soundtracks by Ennio Morricone.

"The Last of the Goo Balls and the Telescope Operator" − 1:00

"Best of Times" − 3:41

This has become the unofficial second theme to World of Goo, after it was used in the second trailer. This was originally written for an animated short film.

"Red Carpet Extend-o-matic" − 4:04

This was written in 2001 as a joke for the developer's music class. Only the beginning of this song is used in the game, and for only one level, but it has become one of the most requested pieces of music.

"World of Goo Corporation's Valued Customers" − 0:13

"World of Goo Ending" − 1:09

Main theme to World of Goo, and used in the third and final trailer.

Reception

Both Wii and Windows versions of World of Goo received critical acclaim, holding an aggregate score from Metacritic of 94/100[27] and 91/100[28] respectively. On GameRankings, it holds an aggregate score of 91% for the PC.[29]Eurogamer called World of Goo "Physics' latest, purest, and most brilliant gift."[30]IGN said of the Wii version "World of Goo is an amazing WiiWare game that you simply must buy for this is exactly the type of software that needs both recognition and support", finding only minor fault with the camera controls and lack of a level editor.[18] WiiWare World gave the game 10/10, saying "Not only is World of Goo easily the best WiiWare release to date, it's also proof that you don't need a large development team or millions of dollars to create an outstanding video game."[31]1UP.com said "World of Goo isn't "just" anything—except, that is, one of just a handful of truly excellent original games for the Wii."[32]Nintendo World Report criticized the "slow start" of the game, but otherwise praised it as "easily the best WiiWare game to date and, perhaps, one of the best this generation."[33] Resolution Magazine referred to it as "an instant classic," awarding it 90%.[34]Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the Wii version a score of 95%, claiming it to be "Virtually flawless".[35]

World of Goo has won many awards. It won Best Independent Game from the Spike TVVideo Game Awards show,[36] and won six Wii-specific awards and one for the PC, including Best Puzzle Game (for both Wii[37] and PC[38]), Best Artistic Design,[39] Best WiiWare Game,[40] Best New IP,[41] Most Innovative Design,[42] and Game of the Year from IGN.[43]GameSpot awarded it as the Best Game No One Played.[44] It was featured in Eurogamer's top 50 games of 2008 in the tenth slot.[45]Peter Moore, the head of EA Sports, in a rant about FIFA 09 being missing from Eurogamer's list, commented that he was surprised World of Goo was included up so high in the list, despite not having played it.[46] 2D Boy responded by saying they were honored that World of Goo had this much mainstream awareness, and that it derives sick pleasure from the "industry big-wig's indignant, self-righteous incredulity".[47]

Expansion

2D Boy have stated that they will not be producing a sequel.[48] However, the community has already developed tools to expand the game, with a number of new levels and mods released.[49]